


From the Ashes

by FatesAwakener



Series: Lone Spark at Midnight [2]
Category: Persona Series
Genre: F/F, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23985613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FatesAwakener/pseuds/FatesAwakener
Summary: Amaya Shirogane and his sister have to move to Shibuya after the loss of their Grandfather and due to his sister's work. This is after Kamoshida and Madarame and will begin just after the Kaneshiro Arc had begun. Many familiar faces from previous Persona games whether it be 3,4 or even A-AU will be showing up. Chapters should be finished and uploaded hopefully once or so a week at best.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Yoshizawa Kasumi, Okumura Haru/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Lone Spark at Midnight [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729450
Kudos: 4





	1. Light the Way

Disclaimer:  
I do not own the Persona Series, that belongs to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya Shirogane is my original character. This is a redo of the original chapters. I hope this will be different enough to stand up to the expectations that I have set for myself.

Light the Way (Amaya POV)  
6/21/XX  
Amaya was sick of things in his life-changing. It has been less than a week since his grandfather, one of the only two people he felt cared about him, had passed away from a heart attack. Then his sister, who he never really saw much of, just uprooted his life and dragged him with her to Tokyo. He had an assumption that she was moving there to investigate the Phantom Thieves as well as strange Mental disorders that had been plaguing the city of Tokyo as of late, but didn’t care enough to ask her about it.  
Amaya was looking out the window at the rain and now and then saw his reflection off of the window. His blue hair and eyes had both looked better in the past. His eyes were now dulled and dead without the spark of power that he used to possess. His blue hair was in his usual style, that of his personal favorite double curve wave. However, there was one thing that he kept seeing in his reflection that kept making him angry; the scar he had that ran from the top to the below his right eye socket. This stupid thing was a constant reminder to him of things in his past he would rather like to forget entirely. These things he would like to forget were numerous and very much present, much to Amaya’s dismay. Sometimes Amaya wished that he hadn’t survived the incident and maybe if he hadn’t then he wouldn’t have been as badly treated as he had been. The only thing that made this worse was the fact that now everyone who had cared for him was gone; his parents were dead and had been for some time; his grandfather died super recently; their butler, Yakushiji, had retired the year prior per their grandfather’s request and Naoto…  
Naoto was right in front of him in the driver’s seat of the car, but to Amaya, she couldn’t seem further away. After the incident that gave him his cursed scar Naoto had changed and had pretty much become a different person. She would yell at him for no reason, accuse him of being useless, and even side with their family on issues they had about him. Amaya had hated this so much he just locked himself away and had almost become suicidal. He only seemed to have one ally; a special friend he met online. He didn’t know their real name, all he knew was they came from similar circumstances and they had similar interests in many things. After Yakushiji had been able to get Amaya to leave his room and at least be in the presence of his immediate family again Amaya had developed something of a second personality. This personality helped Amaya become more assertive, advocative, and surprisingly aggressive. Amaya was so used to this personality now that he had basically let it become who he was and didn’t care all too much if he left himself behind.  
The Phantom Thieves interested Amaya though, he was proud of how they were able to expose the heinous crimes committed by Suguru Kamoshida and Ichiryusei Madarame and got them to beg for forgiveness like the scum they are. Amaya had done some digging and due to Kamoshida was able to discern that at least some of the Phantom Thieves were students of Shujin Academy where he would soon be attending. Amaya was thinking since he would likely be extremely bored at the Academy, maybe he would try to see if he could guess who the Phantom Thieves were, that is if it wasn’t for the fact of another student at the academy: his sister’s “successor” Goro Akechi. Akechi would likely make school difficult for Amaya if he could, making Amaya want to be in the school as little as possible. Amaya was also thinking about where he was going to be living. He and Naoto were moving into the Shibuya Province of Tokyo and Amaya seemed to remember they were getting a big apartment or penthouse belonging to a friend of Naoto’s: the CEO of the Kirijo Group, Mitsuru Kirijo. Amaya didn’t know how his sister knew a billionaire but he didn’t care much about even asking. He had such a dull sense of most of the world that he felt like the world could be on fire and he would just walk through it and wouldn’t care.  
Eventually, the rain started to slow but the night was starting to show and Amaya saw in the distance the lights of the Tokyo Skyline. As they got closer he saw ads and news broadcasts coming from the street displays. He noticed when they drove near the famous Shibuya Crossing and felt as the car eventually stopped in the parking garage of one of the tall buildings. Amaya heard Naoto unbuckle her seat belt and turn to him in the back seat. She had a look of worry on her face and a downcast look in her eyes.  
“Hey Ami, you alright? You haven’t spoken much since the Estate and I thought you were asleep.”  
Amaya felt a little sting of pain for a second but responded regardless. “I’m fine. I have just been lost in thought. Do you need help carrying the luggage? I will help if needed of course.”  
The look Naoto was giving him almost looked like fear and in his reflection, Amaya thought he could even make out that his right eye was yellow. He disregarded this thought as it was illogical.  
“Um, sure Ami. I am going to get the trolley so we don’t have to take as many trips but can you start taking the luggage out of the back of the car?”  
Naoto got out and Amaya opened his door and was about to get out when he got the flash of a figure in his mind. This figure had black hair, yellow eyes, a scar that matched Amaya’s, and chuckled in a way that made Amaya twitch and jerk uncontrollably. Almost as soon as this happened, however, the figure vanished, and the pain Amaya had felt had subsided. Amaya then got up and opened the trunk and began unloading their luggage.  
When everything was on the trolley Amaya and Naoto got it on the elevator and headed up to the floor of their new home; the 17th floor of this building. 5 floors above them lived the billionaire CEO of Okumura Foods which made this building extremely expensive to live in. Naoto opened the package with their keys and gave one to Amaya, put one on her keyring, and put the third in a hidden compartment that she had been told was in the compartment with the fire extinguisher. When Amaya entered the penthouse he was very impressed with the place, more than he thought he would be at least. The living room was massive and had a massive pane of glass that showed the beauty of the Tokyo Skyline. The furniture looked majorly comfortable and looked like the couch worked as an extra bed which was always cool. The kitchen looked nice and had one of those cold water fountains on the front which Amaya was happy about. He then looked down the hallway and saw 5 rooms. Naoto had told him the contents of these rooms. Three of the rooms were bedrooms each with a private bathroom. However, the room at the end of the hall confused Amaya as it held a mini swimming pool. The final room, Mitsuru had told them, was holding training equipment making Amaya excited. Amaya was going to likely prefer being home than being at school. He was already anticipating this since he assumed Naoto would be stuck at the station often, leaving Amaya home alone much of the time. He was fine with this. Things might not be as bad as he had first thought they would be. He didn’t notice but there was a small smirk appearing on his face which Naoto noticed.  
“Well well well, Amaya Shirogane cracked a smirk,” Naoto said, “I take it you like the place. How about you take your bag into your room and we deal with the rest of the luggage later?”  
Amaya mentally jumped hearing that and forced his expression to be blank once again and just said “Sure.” He took his bag of essentials to his room and closed the door behind him. He then and got his nightwear on and went to bed.  
The Next Day. 6/22/XX  
Amaya woke up to the smell of what seemed to be a big breakfast. He could pick up the scent of eggs, bacon, toast, and even the super faint smell of freshly squeezed lemonade. Amaya dragged himself out of bed and walked out of the door and saw Naoto and a man of whom he didn’t recognize. Naoto was talking to this man with a very happy expression on her face which made Amaya believe that she knew this person. Amaya decided to try sneaking to the luggage in the back of the room as to not disturb the two. However, there was one thing he didn’t count on, that is the fact there were 2 people here. Amaya noticed this when about halfway to the luggage he saw out of the corner of his eye his sister’s company twitch his head in what seemed to almost be instinct and his line of sight fell right on Amaya. Amaya flinched as the other man turned toward him.  
“Well, hello. You must be the Amaya I have heard so much about, it is nice to finally meet you.”  
Naoto upon hearing that jumped in surprise and looked over in Amaya seemingly surprised to see him there. Amaya, however, was more interested in the other guy who he was now able to get a good look at. He had dull grey hair, looked around Naoto’s age, and had a shirt on that said Tokyo U on it. Amaya felt a little odd looking at him because it almost felt like he had seen or met this guy before but instead of just confusing himself he felt that he might as well get a name to place with the face and put on his other identity and spoke.  
“Yes, I am Amaya, Amaya Shirogane, nice to meet you, may I have your name?”  
This guy didn’t even flinch at the dry and lifeless tone Amaya just possessed and calmly replied just as calm as his reply.  
“My name is Yu Narukami. I am an old friend of your sisters and now that she is here and I don’t have classes yet this morning figured it would be nice to stop by.”  
Amaya had mixed feelings about this Narukami guy but if he is a friend of Naoto’s and she wasn’t having any concerns before she knew Amaya was in the room he would at least try to be nice to this individual. Amaya did have another assumption however when it came to him which he got through seeing Naoto’s phone background when they were packing up in the estate. Her wallpaper was of the 2 of them and they both seemed to be happy which made Amaya assume that this Yu Narukami was his sister’s boyfriend he heard her talking about with Yakushiji and their grandfather over the past few years. For all Amaya cared if that was the case would be as long as he cares for her and makes her happy Amaya would be okay with it. Amaya decided to try to at least make a good impression as to not potentially push someone close to Naoto away so he decided to at least make it looked like he cared. He took a bow towards Narukami.  
“It is great to meet you Narukami-san.” Narukami seemed slightly taken aback by this and returned the bow.  
“Likewise Amaya-san. Or should I just call you Shirogane-san?” Amaya mentally chuckled at this and decided to end that particular weirdness.  
“You can just call me Amaya, I prefer that and the only person I let call me my ‘nickname’ is Naoto.” Naoto burst out laughing here and it looked almost like she could be crying a little from his jest.  
“HAHAHA! Ami, you afraid of what would happen if anyone else calls you that?” Amaya didn’t even want that to be an option.  
“If anyone other than you calls me that I will make sure they don’t call me that again. That is all I’m saying on that subject.” Naoto stopped laughing at that not hidden threat and he even saw Narukami flinch by the venom that he spat out of his mouth.  
A minute of silence later and Narukami seemed to decide he wanted to speak up.  
“Also Amaya, you can just call me Yu. All my friends call me that and Narukami-san makes me think my father is around.” Amaya understood what he meant and they had a sort of unspoken agreement to not continue on that subject.  
Naoto then turned to Amaya again with an excited look on her face as if she just remembered something important.  
“Oh yeah Ami, today we are supposed to go to Shujin Academy and show you around.” Naoto then turned to Yu. “Would you like to go with us Yu? You said Teddie works there now.” Nazrukami seemed surprised to be asked this and was taken aback and his eyebrows were raised.  
“Oh, uh, sure why not. If that wouldn’t be getting in the way of anything important...” Naoto shook her head quickly there and smiled at him.  
“Of course you can come with us. It won’t cause any issues. Do you have any issue him coming with us to Shujin Ami?”  
“None at all from me Nao.”  
“Alright, good. See Yu? You can come along.” Narukami seemed happy to hear this and smiled for the first time during this conversation.  
“Very well. Thank you.”  
-Shujin Academy-  
Narukami dropped Naoto and Amaya off at the front door while he went to go park the car. Naoto and Amaya entered the school and walked up to reception. The receptionist upon seeing them seemed to get very excited and waved at them.  
“Ah, Naoto-san! Long time no see! How are you doing?”  
“I’m doing fine Teddie, it is nice to see you. If you are here I assume the situation with your home has been resolved?” This “Teddie” seemed to puff up his chest at that comment.  
“Of course it has been dealt with. I am Teddie Hanamura after all!” Naoto seemed like she was trying to stop herself from rolling her eyes.  
“I thought you changed your name to Kujikawa. Did Rise stop you by force again?” Teddie seemed proud by that comment for some reason.  
“Oh, she just asked that I don’t do that now. I don’t know if you knew but Rise-chan and I have started dating.” Amaya saw Naoto’s eyes widen at this and Amaya sees as a smile appears on her face.  
“Congratulations Teddie! I hope you and Rise have a good relationship.” Naoto’s face then becomes very dark. “But remember, If you do so much as to break her heart, know that I won’t forgive you, Ever.” Teddie’s face becomes one of fear but he nods with a serious look on his face.  
Amaya feels a little out of place here and decided to try and sit down in the lobby until he is needed. Naoto however noticed and got the topic at hand back up.  
“Oh yeah, Teddie, this is my brother Amaya. We came here to do the paperwork.” Teddie jumped up and ran over to the desk in the back of the room and grabbed a packet of papers then ran back, handing them to Naoto with a clipboard and pen.  
“This is the paperwork.” Teddie then turns to Amaya, “Hello, Amaya-Kun. It is nice to finally meet you. My name is Theodore Hanamura but your sister and all of our friends just call me Teddie.”  
“It is nice to meet you Teddie-San.”  
Naoto and Amaya went through the transfer paperwork and turned it into Teddie and they went to go talk to the Principal, Kotaro Kobayakawa, and his new homeroom teacher Sadayo Kawakami. They mostly talked about things like how he would be in the same homeroom as someone with a criminal record and the scandal about Kamoshida. The only thing that Amaya was invested in during the conversation was when Kobaykawa mentioned that he would have protection from the student council so that he wouldn’t get swarmed by students which Amaya was happy about. All and all the meeting went well and it seemed that Amaya would be going in for his first day the next day. When Amaya and Naoto got back to the lobby they saw Narukami having a conversation with Teddie and Naoto and Amaya were about to join them when Mrs. Kawakami and a girl with short brown hair walked up to them.  
“Mrs. Shirogane, Amaya-Kun, this is Makoto Niijima. She is the president of the student council here and I thought that now would be the best time to have you have a tour of the school.”  
“That sounds good. Ami, why don’t you go for the tour and when you are finished come back? Yu and I are going to be here talking with Teddie, does that sound okay with you?” Amaya was at least happy he wouldn’t be there listening to a conversation he wasn’t a part of so at least there was that.  
“Sure, I’m fine going on a tour, it gives me a chance to get my barrings before coming back here tomorrow.” Everyone agreed and Mrs. Kawakami turned to Niijima.  
“Would it be okay if I leave this to you Niijima-San? I have to go back to 2D and teach my assigned class.”  
“That is fine by me Kawakami-Sensei. Amaya-Kun, would you follow me?”  
With that Amaya followed Niijima and Naoto went to talk to Teddie.  
-Shujin Academy Student Council Room-  
Amaya followed Niijima onto the third floor from the practice building and she went into the room labeled ‘Student Council’ Amaya figured it was okay and followed her in. When he opened the door he locked eyes with someone he didn’t want to see. This person had a flattened down head of brown hair, a suit that didn’t fit a high schooler and an unceremonious scowl on his face. The high school detective, Goro Akechi. Akechi was looking pretty angry and looked right at him.  
“Why are YOU here?” Amaya had expected this and let his second personality take over once again.  
“Same reason you are. Like I had a choice, I’m a minor after all.” Akechi seemed to get angrier at the condescending nature Amaya just exerted and Niijima looked at him shocked.  
“You are the sibling of the best detective of the modern age. What do you mean you have no choice?” Amaya heard what almost seemed to be deep chuckling going on in his head.  
“What makes you think that means anything? Seven years ago she wouldn’t have cared if I was dead! You have a following and all I have is a fucking scar that the cause of would give you nightmares! You have no right to be on such a high ass horse and assume things have always gone better for others! You think I would be acting like this if I was as much of a spoiled brat as you act like during your interviews!?”  
Akechi now shared a look of both shock and curiosity. Amaya saw in the reflection of the trophy case in the back of the room one of his eyes seemed to be yellow again which Amaya shook his head to shoot down and when he looked again the yellow color was gone again. Niijima was looking even more shocked at what Amaya had said and didn’t seem like she even knew how to assess the situation. Akechi though after a moment looked down and mumbled. Amaya felt as his other personality seemed like it had had enough for the moment and Amaya took over again and felt he might have said too much to Akechi.  
“Uh, sorry about that. I think I went too far with that.” Akechi was still looking down but responded with a much more controlled tone than he had before.  
“No, you’re right, I should be the one apologizing. I guess I have a natural disdain for people who I feel have a better standing than I do. Even if what you said hurt to hear, I feel that you are right. I may have needed to hear that honestly.” Amaya looked down at Akechi, not with a look of pity but a look of remorse for whatever reason he didn’t know. Akechi had almost done a 180 on the attitude he had when Amaya first walked in which confused Amaya just as much as that tangent he went on.  
Amaya and Akechi had a conversation with Niijima who told them about the student council protection they were on. They were barred from doing physical education classes in the fear of injury from either equipment or by students and faculty which neither of them seemed to mind. They were also not supposed to exert their special services or in other words brag about them to other students which seemed like a given. Lastly, they were told that while they were allowed to leave campus they were not allowed to go anywhere other than Shibuya per their requirements with their programs with the school which they both accepted. After the talk ended Akechi excused himself, apologized to Amaya, and went to his next class. Amaya and Niijima headed back down to the lobby so he could go home for the day and prepare for school the next. They began talking on the way down though.  
“So, just to ask what should I call you? Should I call you Niijima-San or would you prefer being called something else?” Niijima seemed surprised to hear that and jumped slightly.  
“Well, Niijima-San is what people call my sister so it doesn’t matter to me. You can call me Makoto if you’d like, what would you like to be called?” Amaya let out a dry chuckle and replied rather fast.  
“I’m fine if you just call me Amaya. However, I hate the nickname my sister gave me so I would rather like it for you to not call me that.” Makoto started giggling at that and Amaya hoped she didn’t remember the nickname in question but decided it would be for the best to not bring it up. Amaya and Makoto finally got back to the lobby and they said goodbye to each other. Naoto, Yu, and Amaya and Teddie went out to lunch. Afterward, Yu and Teddie went off to do their own thing while Amaya and Naoto went home.  
-Shibuya Shirogane Estate-  
Naoto and Amaya returned to their new place after the luncheon with her friends and sat down in the living room watching Netflix. After a few episodes of various things, Naoto turned to Amaya.  
“Hey Ami, how were things today? I know you didn’t have the best time at the luncheon but I hope at least the school was okay.” Amaya was a bit tired but was trying to lighten up to Naoto at least since she is the only family he has left.  
“I enjoyed the luncheon even though I had barely anything I could contribute. I may not act like it but I like hearing conversations by friend groups even if I am not a part of it. The school is fine though, Makoto is nice and Teddie will at least make it so I have one person I know on the staff if I need to talk to somebody.” Naoto seemed relieved to hear that. She still seemed a little remorseful though and looked back up at Amaya with a sad expression on her face.  
“I apologize for what happened before. I know you aren’t likely to forgive me yet but I would at least like to offer that if you need someone to talk to that my door is open.” Amaya knew what she was talking about but still felt sore about it and didn’t want to talk about it now.  
“Simply the knowledge that that is available helps enough Nao. I am still getting over gramps death and I am still a little sore about what you mentioned, to be honest, but I will hopefully be able to get over it in time.” Naoto seemed slightly relieved hearing that and it looked like a weight was removed off of her shoulders.  
“That is fine Ami, I am not expecting you to forgive me yet but I would like to at least make up for it in some way. I owe you that much as your sister and current guardian.” Amaya felt as time stopped around him for some reason and he heard a soft voice talk to him.  
Congratulations you have unlocked the power of the Justice Arcana. With the might of justice at your back, you can conquer obstacles in your path with greater ease.  
Amaya was confused at this but decided not to reply to it. He also felt as 5 almost identical scenes occurred for him but about Temperance, Priestess, Hierophant, Star, and ...Devil. Today was indeed a strange day and Amaya was willing to sleep it off finally. Amaya went to bed and went to sleep and unknown to him 2 scenes were going on, one within him and another from a force observing him.  
-???-  
A shadow figure was standing in a courtyard watching as 6 Tarot cards descended into the courtyard and flew into special portrait frames that decked the outside of the courtyard. This figure looked at the situation and laughed maniacally as each Tarot card shot some energy at the ceiling and the sound of cracking started after the collision.  
“How fitting, the beginning of this story can finally begin.”  
-Velvet Room-  
Hmm, another potential persona user has come to Tokyo. This is interesting since this didn’t seem to be in the same connections as that of the inmate… I should watch this user more and see where this dangerous signature is coming from and whether I should interfere or not. We’ll see how this unfolds and if this will lead to ruin or veer against it.  
-End of Chapter-

Notes;  
This is where I am going to be putting in notes for later chapters. I am going to be uploading the other chapters that I have already finished and am also going to try and finish the chapter I am currently working on. I really hope people enjoy this story and let me know their thoughts. I am more than willing to listen to them. As a bit of a disclaimer for the future, there may be a few places where I might have to make this go up to M or maybe E but not for a long time as of now. Once again, thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoyed.  
This is Amaya's, Arcana List. I will say though, Amaya's Arcana list doesn't do anything like Akira's does. It has a purpose but that will not be said for a while so I hope you all understand.  
Justice-Rank 3 (Naoto)  
Hierophant-Rank 1 (Yu)  
Star-Rank 1 (Teddie)  
Priestess-Rank 1 (Makoto)  
Temperance-Rank 1 (Akechi)  
Devil-Rank 1 (???)


	2. First Day at Shujin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaya has his first day at Shujin, Makoto tells the team about Amaya and now it has peaked their attention. Where will things go from here?

Disclaimer:  
I do not own the Persona Series, that belongs to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya Shirogane is my original character. This is a redo of the original chapters. I hope this will be different enough to stand up to the expectations that I have set for myself.  
First Day at Shujin (Amaya POV)  
6/22/XX  
-Phantom Thieves Chat-  
Makoto- “I just saw something very interesting.”  
Ann- “What was that Makoto?”  
Makoto- “I just met someone who just looked in Akechi’s eyes and ripped into him. It was a sight.”  
Ryuji- “Wait, someone stood up to Akechi and won?! That’s awesome! Who was it?”  
Makoto- “The new transfer student, Amaya Shirogane. He should be joining Ann and Akira’s class tomorrow.”  
Ann- “Wait, Shirogane? Like the world-class detective Naoto Shirogane?”  
Makoto- “Yes, Naoto Shirogane is his sister and current guardian, I was able to meet the two of them today. This might seem off-topic but I would like to ask a question.”  
Akira- “What is this question?”  
Ryuji- “Yeah, if you don’t know something I better hope Akira or Morgana can answer it.”  
Makoto- “What are the color eyes shadow selves have?”  
Yusuke- “Yellowish-gold if memory serves me right. Shadow Madarame and Kaneshiro have that eye color and the shadows of people in Momentos also have it I believe, why do you ask?”  
Makoto- “Something very strange happened when Amaya and Akechi were in the student council room. The first thing was when we came in Akechi was angry seeing him which is a given but Amaya spoke back in a just as angry and strangely condescending attitude I hadn’t seen up to that point. When I turned to him to ask him and Akechi to stop I was taken aback because one of Amaya’s eyes was golden. Akechi seemed to see it too and once Amaya did it turned blue again and Amaya seemed to go back to normal.”  
Akira- “...Interesting. Morgana thinks that Amaya might have his shadow more connected to him than other people do since the way you talked about it makes it seem like that was an intimidation tactic.”  
Ryuji- “!? What the Hell!?”  
Ann- “Ryuji, what is it?”  
Yusuke- “Yeah Ryuji, you usually don’t interrupt something like that.”  
Ryuji- “I was thinking after Makoto sent her message and I wanted to check something. I opened the Nav and I got a hit on an Amaya Shirogane. He has a Palace!”  
Makoto- “What!? He doesn’t seem evil at all! He was nice to me and only got angry when Akechi went after him first! He even seemed like he was waiting for Akechi to do that!”  
Akira- “Makoto, did he say anything strange when he had the golden color in his eyes? Morgana wants to check a theory.”  
Makoto- “Uh, the only thing he said that caught my attention that wasn’t related to Akechi was he said something about a few years prior his sister wouldn’t care if he was dead or not and that Akechi doesn’t have the right to just assume other people had a better life than he did. Is that enough?”  
Akira- “It should be, just a sec I’ll move the phone so Morgana can read it.”  
Akira- “Morgana has a feeling Amaya has a different type of palace.”  
Ann- “What does that mean?”  
Akira- “Morgana would rather explain it in person tomorrow. Rooftop at lunch?”  
Makoto- “Sounds good to me.”  
Ann- “I’ll be there.”  
Ryuji- “Yup no problems.”  
Yusuke- “Um, I assume you will call me when ready?”  
Akira- “Yeah no need to worry Yusuke, I’ll call you when we meet up.”  
Ann- “Oh wait, Akira.”  
Akira- “What is it?”  
Ann- “Tomorrow is Amaya’s first day right? Why don’t we at least introduce ourselves to him?”  
Akira- “That sounds fine by me, Makoto is there anything that we need to know about him just in case?”  
Makoto- “Well, he was angry at Akechi but I assume he expected he would be, he is very mad at anyone other than his sister that calls him his nickname, and other than that he was perfectly fine to talk to but he is a little bit out there. I’d say halfway between artist Yusuke and regular Yusuke.”  
Yusuke- “I feel that I should be insulted right now.”  
Ann- “Don’t worry Yusuke, it wasn’t an insult. You are a nice person but one of your quirks makes many things go over your head, Makoto just used that as a way for the rest of us to understand.”  
Yusuke- “I will take your word for it I guess.”  
Akira- “Well, Morgana is telling me to go to bed so I assume you all should do the same. See you all tomorrow.”  
Everyone- “Goodnight.”  
6/23/XX  
-Shujin Academy-  
It was about 20 minutes before homeroom and 10 or so minutes before most students got to school. Yet Amaya was already there and sitting in the lobby with his laptop on his lap with him vigorously typing away on it.  
“Wow, you’re here early Amaya-Kun.”  
Amaya jumped at the sound of the voice and turned around trying to locate the source of the voice until he saw Teddie behind the desk looking at him.  
“Oh, good morning Teddie. I am early because I didn’t want to be late on my first day. I was mostly early because I wanted to find the correct line to come here. That place is a maze in its own right.” Teddie started chuckling at that.  
“Right you are Amaya-Kun. When I first moved here I felt like I was going to go on every line in Tokyo before I found the one I was supposed to take. I believe you being here means you found the correct one.”  
“I ran into a fellow student who showed me which line came here.” Teddie was interested in this.  
“What did this student look like? I’m interested because very few students come to school this early. Usually, it is either for student council things or for like 10 students extracurriculars.”  
Amaya was surprised that Teddie knew so much about the school which was a stark contrast to the aloof and playful personality that he showed yesterday.  
“Um, the student had pinkish-orange hair and she wore a pink sweatshirt.” Teddie seemed to know who he was talking about immediately.  
“Ah, Mrs. Haru. She does indeed come here early. I’m surprised you have met her this early, she is your neighbor after all.” Amaya’s eyes widened upon hearing that.  
“Oh, that would explain why I ran into her in the elevator.”  
“Heh, yeah. You should go to the teachers’ office and find Kawakami though so you can get ready for your first class.”  
“Thanks, Teddie-San.”  
“Of course Amaya-Kun. Anytime you need help feel free to talk to me.”  
“I will keep that in mind, thanks again.” Teddie nods at this and Amaya feels as time seems to pause for a second and a voice speaks to him and says his bond with Teddie has gotten stronger.  
(Star-Rank 2)  
-Classroom 2D-  
Amaya after looking for Kawakami was told she was at the classroom and went straight there to see her along with 2 other students in the room, a boy with glasses and ‘styled’ black hair and a girl with blond hair that was styled into 2 tails going wither side of her hair. Amaya walked up to Kawakami to know where he was to go.  
“Ah, Amaya-Kun, you’re here early.” Amaya saw out of the corner of his eye that the other students in the room jumped at the sound of his name and looked at him. Amaya was curious about this but finding his seat was more important to him.  
“Yeah, I didn’t want to be late my first day and I wanted to find the correct line here. I gave myself a lot of time in case I missed the early train.” Kawakami was visibly impressed by his thinking but didn’t want that to be shown.  
“Um, since you’re here I might as well tell you where your seat is. Over there are your classmates; Akira Kurusu and Ann Takamaki. Your seat is behind Kurusu in the back of the room.” Amaya nodded and went towards his new seat. He did hear the hushed whispers of his two classmates as he walked by.  
“Hey Akira, is this the guy?”  
“I assume so. He definitely matches the description Makoto told us, we should introduce ourselves since there is still time before class.”  
“Good idea, be sure to hide Morgana very carefully though.”  
Amaya wasn’t really in the mood at the moment and decided to when he got his stuff situated to put his laptop on his desk and pulled out his trusty Bluetooth headphones. He activated their noise-canceling feature and turned on his music while he continued what he was doing earlier.  
When homeroom began Amaya turned his music off and put his headphones away. Kawakami came back into the room carrying a book that Amaya assumed held the attendance report. She got to the podium-like-desk, put the book down and silenced the class.  
“Attention class, before attendance today I would like to introduce our new student here today.” Kawakami looked at him. “Amaya Shirogane, would you come up to the front of the room?”  
The class was silent for a second before whispering and stares came from many of the classmates as Amaya stood up and walked to the area of the room Kawakami was standing.  
“This is Amaya Shirogane, he will be with us for the rest of the year. Amaya-Kun, would you mind telling the class a bit about yourself?” This would prove to be a problem. Amaya needed to think of how to dispell this yet let him keep his privacy until he remembered what was said yesterday by Makoto.  
“I am Amaya Shirogane, I am the little brother of Naoto Shirogane. I just moved here for while my sister is on the case she is currently assigned to, I hope I can get along with the people here.” Amaya then bowed before Kawakami tapped his shoulder signaling he could return to his seat. While Amaya was walking to his desk he heard whispers coming from the class talking about him and he also heard some about Akechi. When Amaya was sitting down at his desk he heard a hushed meow in front of him and saw the tiny head of a cat in Kurusu’s desk. Kurusu seemed to be petting it gently which it seemed to be enjoying. Amaya was happy to see this and decided to be quiet. Kawakami began attendance and Amaya only heard two names that peaked his attention, ‘Akira Kurusu’, ‘Ann Takamaki’, ‘Mishima Yuuki’. Amaya knew the first two to be the names of the two students in front of him but the third he wasn’t sure why it peaked his attention.  
After Kawakami’s class, there was a 10-minute break and Amaya pulled out his laptop again and put his headphones back on to drown out the pointless noise of the class. While he was doing his thing though he saw Kurusu take his phone out and was messaging people. After the 10-minute break, Amaya heard a scuffle as another teacher walked in. He introduced himself to Amaya as Mr. Inui and that he teaches history. A little while into the class Inui asked Kurusu ahead of him who the woman on the Priestess tarot card is which he had correctly said was Pope Joan. Inui then turned to him to do a shadow question.  
“Amaya-Kun, do you know what faith the Popes are responsible for?” Amaya, of course, knew the answer but was confused as to why he was being asked such a simple question in comparison despite him being from a line of detectives.  
“Christianity, or to be more exact the Catholic branch of that faith.” Inui’s eyes lit up, obviously impressed with Amaya’s explanation.  
“That is correct. Well done, yes, the Pope despite being a figurehead for Christianity as a whole is only truly in charge of the Catholic branch though originally that was the only branch.” Amaya now understood why and despite how he already knew this was happy to have gotten the question the way Inui wanted and felt a bit more pride from it.  
At lunchtime Amaya didn’t know what he was going to do, he had not brought anything with him and he didn’t have any money to buy food since he didn’t bring his wallet. Amaya was resigned to just sit there and go back onto his laptop and get something in Shibuya after school when Kurusu got out of his seat and turned around to Amaya. Amaya was a little nervous since he didn’t do very well at connecting with people and the only people he had really talked to here was because he felt like he was forced to, except Makoto who he was a little nicer to for being nice to him in return.  
“Hello, Amaya-San. My name is Akira Kurusu, I am a friend of Makoto’s. I was wondering if you would like to spend lunch with us to learn the school better.” Amaya didn’t know why but he felt that this was even a forced action on Kurusu’s part but figured getting acquainted with a few people at the school couldn’t be too bad.  
“Sure Kurusu-San, Thanks for inviting me. Where are you meeting up?” Kurusu seemed a little surprised that Amaya accepted but regained his composure rather quickly.  
“We usually meet up on the roof but we forgot it was raining, we are going to be meeting up in the student council room. Would you like to go up with us?” Amaya knew where it was but figured it wouldn’t hurt to at least meet new people and see whether it would be nice or not to have some acquaintances.  
“Sure, I don’t have anything else to do anyway.”  
The blonde girl sitting in front of Akira also walked up to him.  
"Hello Amaya-San, I am Ann Takamaki, it is nice to meet you."  
"Likewise." Amaya was interested in why they wanted to talk to him but decided not to ask. He stood up and walked with the other two out of the classroom.  
When they got to the student council room they saw Makoto as they walked in and she seemed shocked to see Amaya there. Amaya noticed this but didn’t really speak up but Makoto did instead.  
“Hello Amaya, I’m surprised to see you here and not at lunch.” Amaya was about to say something when Kurusu spoke up instead.  
“I invited him. After all, it is his first day and Student Council Protection doesn’t really help in the cafeteria.” Makoto seemed to understand that and nodded before turning back to him.  
“Do you have anything to eat? I can lend you a pass for food from the stand if you’d like.” Amaya may have been hungry but he really didn’t like people giving him things out of what he considered pity.  
“No thanks, Makoto. I don’t usually eat at this time anyway. I was going to go with Naoto to a restaurant in Shibuya tonight.” He lied that last part thinking they wouldn’t be able to disprove it which he was lucky they didn’t.  
After a moment a boy with spikey blond hair walked into the room and hi-fived Kurusu before turning to him.  
“Hello, you must be Amaya, nice to meet you. My name is Ryuji Sakamoto.” Amaya was happy to be talking with someone who didn’t really care about honorifics. This meant he didn’t have to either when talking to them.  
“Nice to meet you Ryuji.” Amaya then turned to Kurusu, “You sure have a good group of friends here don’t you?” Kurusu seemed happy to hear that and put his hand behind his head bashfully.  
Amaya felt strange as he felt as 3 new visions appeared before him saying he had unlocked the power of the Fool, Lovers, and Chariot, whatever that meant.  
After about 15 minutes of talking, Ryuji got up and asked Amaya if he would like Ryuji to show him where the student cafe was. Amaya accepted and they left but not before talking again with Kurusu.  
-Akira Point of View-  
Akira had been surprised that Amaya had agreed to go with them to the student council room and was impressed to see how composed he was which put Akira’s own to shame. Akira was wondering what it would be like to see that golden glow in his eyes but he knew he would have to wait. Ryuji had texted him if Akira would like him to bring Amaya to the cafe to let them speak about Amaya’s potential palace which Akira asked him to and Ryuji just said to have Akira pay him back and to recap him later. Ryuji stood up and turned to Amaya.  
“Hey Amaya, would you like me to show you where the student cafe is? If you need it I can pay for something today, since it’s your first day it’s my treat.” Ann and Makoto seemed surprised by Ryuji’s seemingly random offer but Amaya seemed taken aback but a little happy to hear that.  
“Sure Ryuji, lead the way.” Amaya got up but Akira wanted to ask a final question to him.  
“Amaya-San one last thing, would you mind trading contact info with us? We wouldn’t mind hanging out with you more often.” Amaya broke a smile at that which he immediately stopped but when he spoke Akira could still hear the happiness in his voice.  
“Oh, sure. By the way, you don’t need to do the honorifics with me. None of you do, trust me 16 years on the Shirogane Estate will make you feel like you might as well be called inmate. That is how sheltered it is and why I am happy that people like Ryuji are around who speak freely to me.”  
-Metanav Activates-  
Location Found  
“Wait, what was that?” Akira and the other Phantom Thieves knew what it meant but they couldn’t let their confusion as to why the Metanav activated now but Makoto tried her best to dispel the confusion.  
“Oh, sorry Amaya. I was looking something up and I didn’t notice my volume was up.” Amaya obviously had a skeptical look to that but it was obvious it didn’t matter at the moment.  
“Well, I don’t know about all of you but I am hungry so why don’t we exchange contact info?”  
Akira felt a little bit of respect and thankfulness from Amaya and felt as time froze and an Arcana card appeared.  
I am thou, thou art I.  
Thou hast acquired a new vow.  
It shall become the wings of rebellion  
that breaketh thy chains of captivity.  
With the birth of the Tower Persona,  
I have obtained the winds of blessing that  
shall lead to freedom and new power.  
Akira felt power enter him as he felt the new power of the Tower. After that was done and the contact info was exchanged Amaya and Ryuji left the room and Akira, Ann, Makoto, and Morgana who was finally allowed out of the bag were ready to talk about the new info they got from the Metanav.  
“Makoto, I assume that it was your phone that gave the Metanav connection?”  
“Yeah, it was. The good news is now we found Amaya’s location. We now just need to find out what his keyword is.”  
“Um, about that.” Morgana jumped onto the table. “I believe I know what his palace is but I don’t think we should target it.” Everyone else was confused but interested in what Morgana had to say.  
“What do you mean Morgana?” Ann asked.  
“Well Lady Ann, Palaces, like we have seen previously like Kamoshida’s, Madarame’s, and Kaneshiro’s all, have their mindset based around something that corrupted their mind becoming the evil nature the person has. What do you think would happen for someone who has a very negative view of themselves or has a label placed on them that takes over or destroys their life?”  
“You mean like how someone else would have reacted if a label like mine was worse?”  
“Exactly. Sorry if I reminded you of your situation Akira.” Akira gave a small smile at Morgana.  
“No, don’t worry, continue.” Morgana hesitated but knew there was no point holding anything else back and continued even though he didn’t think it was the best idea with Akira like this.  
“...Yeah, as I was saying, what would happen for people with a strong enough case of self-hatred or something like PTSD?” Everyone was taken aback by that because it made sense. Anyone could have something like that because it was a prevalent thing in all of their lives.  
“So, you believe Amaya has something like that? Something stuck in his head he is trying to forget or change?” Morgana shook his head.  
“I believe Amaya is a special case even in that regard. I believe Amaya’s is bad enough to be its own palace and not a bud-like in Mementos because there are a few distortions that keep replaying in his mind, I assume his own Shadow is one of them.” Makoto’s eyes widened.  
“He told Akechi that a few years ago his sister wouldn’t have cared if he was alive or dead! He also said that other people have miserable lives. Does that mean that if we were to find the root of the cause of these problems in Amaya’s heart we could help him?” Morgana looked up happy and nodded.  
“Yes, that is correct, similar to the Palaces we have visited thus far, Palaces like this should still have a treasure but this would be the thing that they believe was the catalyst for their troubles.” Makoto was very happy to hear that.  
“Then after Kaneshiro shouldn’t we help him?” To this Morgana looked apprehensive.  
“I’m not sure if that is the best idea. Amaya seems to have made peace with his distortion and lives with it. I assume that the instance Makoto saw what she thought was his shadow speaking, he was harnessing it and using it for his own safety. I also feel that we all don’t know him that well and he is related to a detective which could lead him into discovering us.” Everyone looked down in an understanding way.  
“So,” Ann said and everyone else looked up at her, “Getting rid of the coping mechanism won’t help and dealing with his treasure would harm him. Should we try to be his friends but not deal with the palace?”  
“That should work.” Morgana said, “Being his friend could potentially help him with his own distortion without potentially bringing danger to ourselves, in that case, I approve.”  
“Are we all in agreement?” Akira asked. Everyone present raised their hand. “Excellent now we just need Ryuji and Yusuke’s thoughts on this.”  
As they were talking they didn’t know but someone was listening to this entire conversation through Akira’s phone, a hacker was honing in on what was said.  
-Yongen-Jaya-  
“Hmm, a Palace can be for people that have undergone trauma if it was bad enough, they don’t necessarily have to be evil? That’s good to know, maybe I have one after all. Amaya Shirogane, hmm, I assume you’re location was the Shirogane Estate judging by when the special app activated but what meaning confinement would lead you to wear that rough shield around you at all times? It must have been miserable.”  
The orange-haired girl leaned back in her chair looking up at the ceiling, sighing. She then turned back to the computer and went onto her computer again typing away at the security of another website.  
-?-  
The shadowy figure looked up again to see 3 more Tarot cards floating down and doing the same thing the ones from yesterday did. The ceiling above the courtyard was starting to crack and within the cracks of the parts that slowly faded away the red sky was visible. The Shadowy figure walked out of the shade to get a better look at the holes. An almost identical copy of Amaya was what stepped out of the shadows. The main key differences being the golden eyes, the glowing scar, and the dark ensemble he wore.  
“Well done. 3 more have begun, your true self is finally starting to seep through the cracks, I wonder whether I should help in that fashion.”  
Shadow Amaya then fired a black bolt of darkness in the shape of lightning at the Devil Arcana.  
(Devil-Rank 2)  
“Every little bit helps. Hehehe.”  
-End of Chapter-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go chapter 2 has been added. I have a few more to fix as I am trying to get rid of my old typos but things seem to be working out. I hope you enjoyed and I will be working on putting up the other few chapters I have already finished.


	3. Bonds Forming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaya gets more situated to his new life in Tokyo and the idea of having friends. After an accidental trip to Akihabara and in interesting encounter in an alleyway off Central Street where will things start going crazy?  
> -A Black-Masked figure also goes to Kaneshiro's Palace and sees the remnants of a battle and has to decide what to do about it.-

From the Ashes  
Chapter 3  
Bonds Forming  
Disclaimer: I should have put this on the summary and I will but I don’t own any of the characters from Persona, the rights go to Atlus and Sega, but Amaya is my character. I’m putting this on every future chapter sorry.  
(Amaya pov)  
6/23/XX  
Akihabara (Tokyo)  
Amaya found himself jumping on the wrong train when trying to go to Meiji Shrine and found himself in Akihabara. Amaya had known about this place but hadn’t intended to go there this early but since he was there why not. Amaya walked around the Akihabara station until he read the sign pointing to the Shibuya line. Now that Amaya knew the way home he was alright. He walked out of the station to explore the area. After a moment Amaya’s eyes drifted onto an arcade. Thinking that it would be interesting he walked inside. Once inside Amaya saw a line of pods for the game Gun About. Amaya remembered that he hadn’t brought his wallet so he wasn’t going to be able to play any games but walked up to the display and picked up the gun and checked it out. The gun was a 1-2 handed pistol depending if you wanted the silencer on or not. Amaya removed the silencer and gave the gun a spin to do its weight judge before setting it back in the holster. Amaya was about to walk away when a younger kid with a tee shirt and flip back hat walked up to him.  
“Yo, you going to do some Gun About?”  
“I was thinking about it but I doubt I’d be any good and not to mention I’m broke so I couldn’t buy a game right now anyway.” The kid shook his head.  
“I understand being out of money but I think you would be good if not great at the game.” Amaya was surprised to hear that.  
“What makes you say that?” The kid grinned proudly and put a hand on the brim of his hat in a prideful manner.  
“Shinya Oda at your service. I am also called the King of Gun About. May I ask your name?”  
“I am Amaya Shirogane, nice to meet you.”  
As Amaya aims his hand out to Shinya he notices Shinya give him a strange look before accepting the handshake. Amaya then feels as time seems to stop around him and he hears a dark voice in his head.  
I am thou, thou art I.  
Thou hast learned the power of trust  
it shall become the key to freedom  
and end the sadness in your heart.  
With the power of the Tower Arcana  
thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.  
May you get strength in unity.  
Amaya then sees a small card appear in front of him it then dissipates into light that goes inside of him. Amaya feels a little invigored by this but decides not to question it and to accept it as is. A moment after the card enters him time abruptly began again and Amaya and Shinya ended the handshake.  
“Hey Amaya, if you would like I can give you money for a game and we could tag team so I can show you the ropes.” Amaya smiled openly.  
“I would feel honored to be taught by the King so why not?” Shinya smirked happily and he hands Amaya a gun and takes the other after putting some money in.  
The game begins and Shinya takes the lead, he eliminates enemies in groups but keeps his eye on Amaya who was going a very impressive job of being a gunslinger. He was one handing the gun which meant each shot alerted others but any enemy the came within his sight from a distance had a bullet shooting towards their head soon thereafter. Shinya knew he was right about Amaya’s skill and began to enjoy himself that much more.  
After the game was done Shinya turned to Amaya with a huge grin on his face and raised his hand. Amaya did the same and they hi-fived in a show of friendship.  
“That was great Amaya! Would you like to do another game?” Amaya frowned and shook his head.  
“I apologize Shinya but I need to get to my line back to Shibuya. My sister will likely be asking where I am anyway.” Shinya frowned, sad to hear that but then perked back up like a lightbulb just went off in his head.  
“Oh! Why don’t we exchange contact info so we can do this again?” Amaya smirked at this.  
“Of course. How about we set up a time every week or so to meet up?”  
“Sounds great to me. I can’t wait to see you again.”  
“Likewise Shinya. Talk to you later.”  
Amaya now assumed that these magic pseudo hallucinations were of his relationships with other people and the higher one gets the closer he gets to that person. Amaya did like the idea of that and hoped he could get people he can truly trust once again.  
-Shibuya Central Street-  
Amaya got back to Shibuya and was walking home only to see Akira standing almost in a trance in an alley on Central Street. Knowing how dangerous people can be to the defenseless, Amaya walked up to Akira and patted on his shoulder.  
“Psst, hey, you ok?” There was no response and Akira was in what seemed to be a trance. Amaya noticed the cat from earlier in his bag looking at him apprehensively and Amaya could see it wasn’t an ordinary cat just by its expression. Amaya reached a hand to it and gently rubbed its head before walking toward the shop and hiding behind a crate. The cat looked at him questionably before they both heard 2 guys go down the alleyway.  
“Hey bro, look. A guy just brained out.”  
“Lets rob em’.”  
Amaya braced himself, removed his bag leaving it at the crate, and waited just inside the corner. Amaya out of the corner of his eye saw one of the guys brandish a knife while the other pulled out what seemed to be a gun. Whether they were model or not Amaya didn’t care because he wasn’t going to let one of his friends get hurt. The one holding the knife was closer to him so he had an idea. When they got within 2 feet of Amaya he readied himself and the jumped out from behind the corner swiping the knife from the guy’s hand and doing a spin to kick the guy in the face. The other guy was still stunned so Amaya used the chance to use the knife and slice at the other guy’s hand that was holding the gun and when they moved their hand back the knife hit the gun and was dropped to the ground. Amaya put his foot on the gun before doing a back swipe with it and it ended up hitting the alleyway wall. Amaya then pointed the knife at the guys with a completely savage look on his face.  
”I’m giving you this one chance to leave. I won’t give you another, at least in one piece.”  
The tone was bone-chilling in its own right but Amaya hazarded a guess that there was another reason they were cowering. They turned back and ran but not before Amaya was able to notice their outfits. They looked like stereotypical punks but with yellow hair and one of them had an insignia on the back of his leather jacket with the image of a pig on it. Amaya turned back to where Akira was to see him moving like he was coming out of the trance and the cat was looking at him with what almost seemed to be a jaw-dropped expression on its face. Akira turned around and when he made eye contact with Amaya got the same expression the cat had.  
“Uh, Amaya? What are you doing here? And uh, what’s with the knife?” Amaya felt like that same force that appeared when he first talked to Akechi started to dissipate now that the fight was over and he walked over to the gun and picked it up.  
“You’re welcome. If it wasn’t for me, while you were daydreaming you almost got jumped.” Akira’s eyes widened considerably after hearing that.  
“Oh! Thanks. Uh, it feels odd to have needed help since most people just leave me alone. But I’m not sure you answered my question.” Amaya chuckled a bit to that.  
“Akira, I live here in Shibuya, I was just heading toward my place when I saw you here and wanted to make sure you were alright.” Akira was surprised to hear that seemingly.  
“Oh, then, in that case, I owe you one.”  
“In that case, I would like to immediately cash it.” Akira’s eyebrows raised like he was contemplating something.  
“What would you like?”  
“I would just like to ask you a question and for you to answer it truthfully.” Akira seemed even more confused as this to be the payback for debt like this.  
“Ok, sure. What is this question?” Amaya smirked since he now had his way and Akira seemed to regret agreeing to it now.  
“What is that cat and where did you find it?” Akira upon hearing this seemed to get pale which made Amaya suspect he just hit what he was looking for.  
“U-Uh, w-what do you mean? He’s just a service cat. I got him for good behavior from my record.” Amaya looked down and his smirk widened and Akira seemed a bit nervous now.  
“Pretty damn intelligent for a service animal. Not to mention it can obviously understand situations and can even make human-like expressions. That is no cat, not a normal cat anyway.”  
(Akira POV)  
Shit, Amaya had him in a corner in 2 ways, Akira couldn’t run away since he would have to inevitably see Amaya tomorrow and that could be taken as a confirmation to Amaya that this wasn’t normal which could lead him to figure out that they are the Phantom Thieves. Akira heard Morgana whisper to him though.  
“He has us good, I didn’t know he was that good at reading expressions and his fighting prowess was great when his shadow was there. I fear that we may have to show him the Metaverse.” Akira’s fear suddenly went up again. If they brought Amaya there then there would be no way that they could avoid it. On the other hand, Amaya would figure it out anyway if he wasn’t to answer. If push came to shove of course if they were to go to Mementos Akira could get Amaya to be quiet about it if it was a secret. It was a long shot but they had no other real option Akira or Morgana could see. Akira turned to Amaya who seemed to be awaiting his real answer.  
“Amaya, I can show you where I got him but we are going to have to go to Shibuya Station. Are you okay with that?”  
“As long as you don’t run away.”  
-Kaneshiro’s Bank-  
(??? Perspective)  
The man wearing the Black Mask walked onto the flying bank to speak with Kaneshiro’s Shadow. The man was asked by the Leader to check in on the Black Diamond’s connections palaces since they had lost a significant amount of income when Madarame had a change of heart and they lost power when Kamoshida did a few months prior. The Black Mask was surprised to see the front door to the Bank was broken which meant something had happened here. He walked into the hole in the door to see a Shadow run up to him.  
“Hello Sir, welcome back to the Bank. Do you wish to meet with my Master?”  
“Yes, that is what I am here for. I want a debrief about what happened here so I can do my report.”  
“Right away Sir, Master Kaneshiro will be here in a moment.” The Shadow then ran off toward the elevator. The Black Mask sat down in one of the waiting booths and mentally assessed the damage. He saw there had been a battle here, there were cracks in the concrete flooring that looked like they were caused by someone gaining strength and breaking the floor beneath them. He also saw charing around the other booths near the cracking which seemed to him to be the signs of a Persona awakening. He remembered his own but faintly since it had been 2 years prior. The Black Mask was about to write the damage off as someone accidentally ending up here and awakening until he saw other bits of damage. There was the wood burns of Nuclear magic but also the regular warping Fire magic causes, he also saw what seemed to be the remnants of Lighting and Ice attacks. The Black Mask squinted and could even make out the small outlines of black puddles that almost seem to be from Curse Magic. A group had been here and very recently like within the past 2-3 days or so. The Black Mask was thinking about what to do when after what felt like forever, Shadow Kaneshiro showed up.  
“I’m sorry for the wait Sir, I was at the vault but I got up here as fast as I could.”  
“I assume that the Phantom Thieves were here?” The Black Mask gestured to the leftover carnage from the recent battle and Kaneshiro nodded.  
“I had them on the ropes since they couldn’t deal with my constant summoning of the Mercenaries but then the girl they brought along became like them, busted through the door and all of them escaped.”  
“Wait, they had a girl with them? Do you know who it was?” Kaneshiro’s eyes lit up as an almost demonic smile appeared on his face.  
“Why, yes I do. They brought her along since she was now considered a customer of the bank so they could get up here, I don’t know who the other thieves are but I can name the new girl. Her name is Makoto Niijima.” The Black Mask’s train of thought derailed by those 2 words. Makoto Niijima, he knew her, how was she a member of the Phantom Thieves. This was going to be interesting for him now so he won’t tell the boss this part when he leaves. He turned to Kaneshiro.  
“Great job. That is all I needed to hear, I suggest you get back to your defense system and I’ll work on the information you gave me.” Shadow Kaneshiro seemed happy.  
“Anytime Sir, thank you for your time.” He walked away and The Black Mask walked outside and left the Metaverse.  
-Shibuya Central Street-  
When he left Kaneshiro’s Palace, Goro Akechi walked to the alleyway near the gym and pulled out his phone and called the person he hated the most in the world, his boss and Father, Masayoshi Shido.  
“Yes?”  
“Hello, Sir, I just left Kaneshiro’s Palace, and I have news.”  
“Excellent. What did you get?”  
“When I got there I saw that the front door was broken and there was carnage in the waiting room area. It looked like a fierce battle happened here and from the looks of it, even a Persona Awakening.”  
“You have gone on about those for a while but this is one of those points I have to simply believe you on. The fact there were remnants of one of these awakenings does that mean that the Phantom Thieves brought a new member with them?”  
“I assume so. There were remnants of other types of magic too which seems to be the Phantom Thieves were there and Kaneshiro even confirmed it himself so I told him to buff out security and I was going to monitor his palace for a while to see if I can find out anything about the Phantom Thieves.”  
“Good, then that is fine by me. I better get some results next I hear from you. I have to go since I have a meeting with the Viper.”  
“Understood Sir, Goodbye.”  
Ugh, the Viper, Eiji Iora, the Director of the SIU. Akechi would say that if Shido was number one on the people he hated, Iora would easily make number two. The guy was cocky and a kissass to Shido. He tried to boss Akechi around even though he doesn’t have the authority and even gives him the stupid interviews he hates even though Iora knows they don’t do anything except make life more difficult for him. Akechi hoped that one of these days if Shido had Akechi do a mental shutdown on Iora he wouldn’t falter and would do it in a day for fun. Akechi would use his free time the rest of the day and work out at the gym since he was here but he would start looking into Makoto tomorrow at school. Akechi wondered why Makoto would be helping the Phantom Thieves if her sister was against them but Akechi didn’t know either one of them enough to know the full story. Tomorrow would be quite a day.  
-Shibuya Station-  
(Amaya POV)  
Amaya followed Akira into Shibuya Station and they went to a hidden corner where they couldn’t be seen. Amaya turned the corner and saw Akira on his phone and Amaya saw a red and black eyeball encompass the whole screen and Amaya felt a nauseating headache happen for a moment as the area around his started shifting.  
You have entered Mementos  
That voice again, it had gone off during the conversation he had had with the others this morning, interesting. Amaya turned and saw Akira in what could only be described in his eyes as a badass outfit. He also saw what he assumed to be the cat, with a bandanna and with a head about the size as its body.  
“Well,” the cat said, “You don’t seem too surprised looking at us.”  
“That’s cause I’m not. I expected as much earlier when that strange app happened before and Makoto gave that sloppy explanation trying to cover it up. Ryuji wasn’t doing too good of a job hiding the fact he was stalling me though.”  
“Well, you are related to a long line of great detectives and I noticed when you were getting suspicious I just didn’t expect to have to do this the first day we met you.”  
“I’m surprised though, on my first day at school I found out the identity of the Phantom Thieves without additional aid or information. All I needed was you inviting me to hang out with you. I feel that I would be claimed to be just like my sister if I was to tell her about it.”  
“Please don’t! I don’t want to go back to jail yet!” Akira said that with very apparent fear in his voice.  
“Tsk, who do you take me for, Akechi? Of course, I won’t expose you guys. You are the first people my age that treat me like a person and not just that one guy related to famous people.”  
“Sigh, oh thank goodness.” The cat said. “I was originally suspicious of you since it looked like you were figuring us out but you are a good guy.”  
Amaya felt as his eyesight flashed yellow and it felt like something else was speaking for him.  
“What do you think?” Akira and the cat’s eyes widened and they took a step back. Amaya slapped himself in the face and the force vanished as quickly as it appeared but that still hurt.  
“Ow...” The cat walked up.  
“You shouldn’t hold yourself back like that, it isn’t good for you. The way that looks, it seems like you don’t like that happening.”  
“That’s right. I don’t like it because that force to me when it shows up like that has only brought me pain. It first appeared when my parents died. After they died my family treated me like I deserved to die in my parent’s place. That was 7 years ago.” Akira and the Cat’s eyes widened considerably after hearing that.  
“That’s horrible.” Akira said, “It kind of reminds me of what happened to me. When I was given my false assault charge, everyone around me exept my parents who are divorced treated me like dirt without hearing my side of the story or anything. Some of the people who have known me for years just treated me like I didn’t exist so that pain I can connect with you on.”  
Amaya looked up at Akira in the eyes and nodded. Amaya then felt as time seemed to stop like what happened with Shinya.  
I am thou, thou art I.  
Thou hast learned the power of trust  
it shall become the key to freedom  
and end the sadness in your heart.  
With the power of the Fool Arcana  
thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.  
May you get strength in unity.  
Another card appeared before him and just like what happened before it dissipated and entered him. He was a little confused though, the one with Shinya had been rank one when this happened but this one was rank two. Did it happen to mean he had do connect directly with someone? Amaya hoped if that was the case the others could be like this, a cathartic experience for him now and then. As the time stop dissipated Amaya turned to the cat.  
“I don’t believe I got your name.”  
“I am Morgana, the guide and Shadow Analyzer of the Phantom Thieves.”  
“Don’t forget Car.” Akira piped in.  
“That too.” Morgana shrugged.  
“Shadow Analyzer?”  
“Oh, we should explain things to you since we’re here and you are already keeping the secret. It will be a bit of a long story though.”  
“I don’t have anywhere I need to be relatively soon so go ahead.”  
After Akira and Morgana gave an overview of Shadows and Palaces as well as the Palaces of Kamoshida and Madarame and what they did Amaya couldn’t help but be blown away by how much they did in such stressful conditions. They also mentioned their current issue with a “Junya Kaneshiro” they were going to deal with and Amaya was once again impressed with how devoted they are to this. He was surprised Makoto had been framed and that was why they had to take down Kaneshiro. Amaya also had a suspicion from how the Metanav reacted earlier that day and the constant flashes of unusual behavior.  
“Uh, just a question. Do I have a Palace?” Morgana looked down solemnly.  
“Yes you do but I believe it is a Palace surrounding a traumatic moment in your life or something like that that your subconscious tries to hide. We have agreed to not target you though unless we have your permission.”  
“In that case, I give you all permission. If what you have said is true and Palaces are like that, mine would be something that needs to go. I fear my Palace to be so hidden from me that I wouldn’t even remember what is being held in there.”  
“Do you have a guess as to what it could be? We have 2 of your keywords with the location being the Shirogane Estate but all we would need is the distortion to get in hopefully.”  
“What exactly does a distortion entail?”  
“A distortion is how the persons’ subconscious sees their palace’s location. For Kamoshida he saw the entirety of Shujin Academy as his castle and Madarame saw his Shack as a Museum that takes pride in taking from others. What we would need to find is how your subconscious sees the Shirogane Estate.”  
“...The Estate to me is the place I felt confined in for what felt like forever. I thought there was no need to go out and kept myself isolated away from everyone. I don’t think it would be something like a prison but more like something, someone would intentionally put themselves in. I don’t know any specific examples.”  
“Well, that is good but are you sure you would trust us with something that personal?” Amaya turned to Morgana.  
“Morgana, despite you being in the form of a cat, you have done more than I’ve done my whole life. If you and the other Phantom Thieves are just as devoted to helping others than I don’t know of anyone else I would trust this too.” Morgana looked up at him with an awed but happy expression on his face.  
“Then, in that case, we would be honored to help you. We have to deal with Kaneshiro first though.”  
“Yeah, of course. Do it at any time. I feel that this shouldn’t be something that needs that much attention right now.”  
Amaya felt as his connection with Morgana seemed to take hold and another freeze of time occurred.  
I am thou, thou art I.  
Thou hast learned the power of trust  
it shall become the key to freedom  
and end the sadness in your heart.  
With the power of the Magician Arcana  
thou hast gained the ability to give strength to others.  
May you get strength in unity.  
Once again a Tarot card appeared before him, dissipated, and entered him. This time though he felt like something was breaking inside of him but it ended abruptly so Amaya didn’t pay it much mind. As the time stop ended Amaya turned to the two Phantom Thieves in front of him.  
“Well, I don’t know about you but today has been a long day. Why don’t we leave and I’ll see you at school tomorrow?”  
“Sounds good.” Akira pulled his phone and pressed a button.  
You are now leaving Mementos.  
After the nausea from the Metanav subsided Amaya said goodbye to Akira and Morgana who he could now understand and went home. Amaya was very tired and was about to go to bed when he plugged in his phone and saw a new app on his home screen. It was an eyeball with a red and black color scheme. Amaya knew this was the Metanav, maybe he could help the others out and find his own Palace’s distortion? He would think about this tomorrow as Amaya lay down on his bed and went to sleep.  
-End of Chapter-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go. Another one fixed and brought over, this is going very far off of the initial story but I believe this is a good thing. I decided to show Amaya’s first few connections and his first actual support conversations with Shinya, Akira, and Morgana. Something I feel that I should say now though is that this has major shifts in the story from the game. I will likely change things like weather and events if needed and it will hopefully make sense in line with the story as a whole.  
> Amaya’s new confidant list is,  
> -Justice Rank 3  
> -Hierophant Rank 1  
> -Star Rank 3  
> -Priestess Rank  
> -Devil Rank 2  
> -Temperance Rank 1  
> -Fool Rank 2  
> -Magician Rank 1  
> -Tower Rank 1  
> One last thing I do want to bring up is that while I said Amaya doesn’t get special benefits from confidants I sort of lied. Only certain ones give him benefits and they will be more important at a later date. The only one that I will say now is Shinya whose confidant with Amaya will likely give the same bonuses as in-game. He doesn’t have the down shot skill yet but you will see why later.  
> I also feel that I should give Akira’s and his version of Amaya’s Confidant boost but I am currently updating that while working on my next full chapter. I will probably add it when I’m done to an end of chapter notes but I don’t know yet. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
